Finance System (21077/19)

In 2013 the UK Government introduced its Cloud First policy which is defined as “mandatory for central government and strongly recommended to the wider public sector”*. As a strategic decision, proven in the commercial sector already, migration into the cloud is a means to realise tangible, immediate and sustainable cost reductions coupled to significant improvements in performance, efficiency and customer service.

In this context, and in the spirit of Freedom of Information, please could you help me understand the current situation concerning the finance system used by the Constabulary:

1.     What finance system is used by the Constabulary?

2.     Does the system include a Purchase-to-Pay module?

3.     How many officers and staff have log-ins to the finance system, not just in the finance department but across the Constabulary more widely?

4.     Do you currently offer self-service functionality to your creditors and debtors to help them resolve financial matters and queries without their needing to call your finance team?

5.     Where is the finance system physically located and run, i.e. is it deployed locally on premise and managed by Constabulary staff in-house, or externally via the cloud, eg: hosted and managed by the vendor?

6.     What is the annual support and maintenance cost, or cloud subscription fee, paid for the finance system?

7.     What other systems used by the Constabulary are currently integrated with your finance system?

8.     When did the contract to supply the current finance system commence and when does it expire?

9.     When do you expect to begin evaluating alternative solutions as contract expiration approaches?

10.  Who is the Constabulary officer/staff member with ultimate responsibility for financial operations and the resources (eg systems) required to facilitate them (name & title please)?

11.  If you are part of a shared service is your finance system utilised across the partnership and if not, how do you share financial data and reporting?